“I’ll figure on the proposition while we eat lunch,” said Blake. “I can answer you better regarding that ‘if’ when I have done some calculating. Luckily I climbed up to examine the rock in the gulch.” He smiled quizzically at his companion. “You were right as to its being unclimbable; but I found out even more than I expected.”
Ashton silently took the bag from him and arranged the lunch and his canteen on a rock under a pine. The engineer figured and drew little diagrams in his fieldbook while he ate his sandwiches. Ashton had half drained the canteen on the way up the mountain. Before sitting down Blake had rinsed out his mouth and taken a few swallows of water. After eating, he started to take another drink, noticed his companion’s hot dry face, and stopped after a single sip.
“Guess you need it more than I do,” he remarked, as he rose to his feet. “Time to start. I wish to go around and down the mountain on the other side of the gulch.” 196
“How about the––the ‘if’?” inquired Ashton.
“Killed,” answered Blake. “There now is only one left. If that comes out the same way, Dry Mesa will have good cause to change its name.”
“You can tunnel through from the gulch to the cañon?” exclaimed Ashton.
“Yes; and I shall do so––if Deep Cañon is not too deep.”
“I hope it is a thousand feet below Dry Mesa!” said Ashton.
“In the circumstances,” Blake replied to the fervent declaration, “I am glad to hear you say it.”
Ashton stared, but could detect no sarcasm in the other’s smile of commendation.